Haiti: Earthquakes - Jan 2010

Glide: EQ-2010-000009-HTI

Overview

The earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 Jan 2010 affected almost 3.5 million people, including the entire population of 2.8 million people living in the capital, Port-au- Prince. The Government of Haiti estimates that the earthquake killed 222,570 and injured another 300,572 people. Displacement peaked at close to 2.3 million people, including 302,000 children. At least 188,383 houses were badly damaged and 105,000 were destroyed by the earthquake. Sixty per cent of Government and administrative buildings, 80 per cent of schools in Port-au-Prince and 60 per cent of schools in the South and West Departments were destroyed or damaged. Total earthquake-related loss is estimated at $7.8 billion, equivalent to more than 120 per cent of Haiti’s 2009 gross domestic product. (UN General Assembly, 2 Sep 2011)

According to the Humanitarian Action Plan for Haiti 2014 an estimated 172,000 people remained internally displaced in Haiti in 306 camps at the end of 2013, almost four years after the earthquake. Basic services in camps, including WASH and health, had declined faster than the pace of return or relocation of the displaced. 16,377 displaced families living in 52 camps were considered at high risk of forced evictions. Almost 80,000 people lived in 67 camps considered to be at particularly high risk of flooding, with an additional 30 camps at additional environmental risks.

By mid-2014, an estimated 104,000 people remained internally displaced in 172 camps. Almost 70,000 IDPs were not currently targeted by any return or relocation programs. (OCHA, 31 Jul 2014) By Sep, 85,432 people remained internally displaced in 123 camps. (IOM, 8 Oct 2014)

January 10, 2011-New York, NY- Today,
MADRE, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), the Bureau
des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the IWHR Clinic of CUNY School of
Law released a report on sexual violence in Haiti one year after the earthquake,
entitled Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: …

July 27, 2010; Port-au-Prince, Haiti -
More than six months after Port-au-Prince was leveled by the January 12
earthquake, hundreds of thousands of displaced women and girls live in
fear of rape in tent cities that lack lighting, privacy and security.

MADRE is working as part of a coalition
of organizations seeking justice for women in Haiti. The coalition submitted
the following statement to the UN Human Rights Council for the upcoming
session.

Coalition members include:

MADRE
KOFAVIV
Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI)
Institute for Justice & Democracy
in Haiti (IJDH)
University of Virginia School of Law
Human Rights Program
Human Rights Litigation and Advocacy
Clinic, University of Minnesota

PORT-AU-PRINCE - In over a week of on-site
interviews and exploration, a delegation of U.S. lawyers, health professionals,
and community activists found continued alarming rates of rape and other
gender-based violence (GBV) in the displaced persons camps throughout Port-au-Prince
since the Haitian earthquake in January.

On January 12, 2010 the worst earthquake
in 200 years struck Haiti causing catastrophic destruction in the hemisphere's
poorest country. The quake struck near the capital of Port-au-Prince, the
most densely populated part of Haiti. The death toll has been estimated
at over 200,000.

In fact, Haiti was devastated even before
the earthquake struck. Nearly 80 percent of Haitians live in extreme poverty,
and more than half suffer from malnutrition.

In the traumatic weeks after the earthquake
that struck Haiti on January 12, survivors have endured the loss of loved
ones, severe injuries, shortages of food and water, collapsed homes and
constant fear of renewed aftershocks. Through it all, we have witnessed
the dignity and resilience of the Haitian people and the solidarity of
women's rights activists throughout the region and the world. Haitians
have dug neighbors out of collapsed buildings, cared for orphaned children
and shared dwindling food supplies.

The women's health delegation arrived in
Jimani, Dominican Republic last Tuesday, and they immediately began working
around the clock to provide emergency services to the many busloads of
people who had fled Haiti. The team has since arrived in Fonds Pariesien,
Haiti, where they are working in a clinic to respond to the needs of the
incoming earthquake survivors.

Another medical team arrived on January
23rd to begin working on a Rapid Health Assessment to identify the most
pressing women's health needs in Haiti.

MADRE is supporting a delegation of midwives
and maternal health practitioners. Four members of the first team of midwives
and maternal health providers have arrived in the border town of Jimani,
and three more are scheduled to arrive this weekend.

We just got off the phone with Leilani
Johnson of Circle of Health International (COHI), the organization MADRE
is partnering with in this initiative.

Over a week after the massive earthquake
struck Haiti, the need for life-saving medical services remains overwhelming.
Casualty estimates have risen. The death toll may be as high as 200,000
and the number of injured and homeless is in the millions.

MADRE is continuing our emergency efforts
to get medicines and medical supplies to Haiti through the Dominican Republic.
A shipment of supplies arrived Wednesday, January 20, and more supplies
are expected in the coming days.

MADRE is working with Partners in Health
to support Zanmi Lasante as they continue providing emergency care for
the earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince and for those who have managed
to flee the city.

At HUEH, the general hospital in Port-au-Prince,
there are now seven functioning operating rooms, with surgeries being performed
day and night in each.

Nearly a week after the massive earthquake
struck Haiti, the need for life-saving medical services is overwhelming.
Casualty estimates have risen, now reflecting a death toll of 200,000,
and the number of injured and homeless is in the millions.

MADRE partners are working day and night
to meet the incredible need. MADRE is working with Partners in Health to
support Zanmi Lasante, a community-based health care project. They have
set up field hospitals both inside and outside of Port-au-Prince, while
conducting assessments for expanding their efforts to address the tremendous
need.

MADRE continues to respond to the cataclysmic
earthquake that struck Haiti this week on Tuesday January 12.

MADRE is partnering with Circle of Health
International (COHI) to send a team of midwives, women's health providers
and public health professionals in the coming weeks. First, an initial
assessment team will pave the way, traveling to Haiti next week to identify
and begin to address women's health needs.

You may be wondering whether MADRE is actually
able to transport emergency relief given Haiti's decimated infrastructure.

We have determined that our partner organization
in Haiti, Zanmi Lasante, is able to bring humanitarian aid overland into
the country. Teams of healthcare workers from the project have established
a functioning supply chain through the Dominican Republic and are currently
delivering medical aid to those most in need in Haiti.

The quake struck near the capital of Port-au-Prince,
the most densely populated part of Haiti.

MADRE has activated an emergency response
through our partner organization, Zanmi Lasante Clinic. The doctors, nurses
and community health workers there are working to get bring medical assistance
and supplies to areas that have been hardest hit.

The most urgent needs right now are bandages,
broad-spectrum antibiotics and other medical supplies, as well as water
tablets to prevent cholera outbreaks.